Cancer health disparities are differences in the incidence, prevalence,
mortality, and burden of cancer and related adverse health conditions that exist
among specific population groups in the United States. These population groups
may be characterized by gender, age, race, ethnicity, education, income, social
class, disability, geographic location, or sexual orientation.

The Applied Research Program's (ARP's) mission is to understand how and why
cancer care and control activities in the United States influence patterns of
care and trends in cancer incidence, morbidity, mortality and survival. Pursuit
of this mission is possible through ARP's support of methodologic research to
improve survey data collection and clinical databases, development of assessment
tools for use in clinical trials and observational studies, as well as analysis
of existing cancer control data. These data are used to evaluate patterns and
trends in cancer-associated health behaviors and risk factors, health care
services, economics, and outcomes, including patient-reported outcomes.
Measuring social inequalities and monitoring health disparities across the
cancer control continuum is an integral part of ARP's work.